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Lilia couldn’t help it. No matter how hard he bites his lip, his giggles still slip through.
On the bed, Malleus moves the arm he has thrown over his eyes just enough to glare at Lilia. The sight of it only makes Lilia laugh harder.
“It’s not funny.”
“Oh, I disagree deeply, Malleus. It’s terrible funny!” Lilia grins. He finally steps into the room instead of leaning against the doorframe, closing the door behind him. “See, this is why I say you should get used to eating more often. All of that at once is bound to make you ill.”
“Silver was determined. I wasn’t going to say no.”
“And I’m sure being invited as a judge had nothing to do with it.” That makes Malleus scowl even more.
“And yet you wouldn’t eat every one of his dishes.” Lilia frowns with a click of his tongue as he approached the bed. Once he’s next to it, he places his hands on his hips with a pout. “It wouldn’t have hurt to eat the stuff he and Riddle burned. Even Vargas ate everything.”
“If I had, it still would have been better than your own cooking. If it can be called such a thing,” Malleus smirks. “How is Vargas?”
“In the infirmary,” Lilia waves his hand, using magic to close the window curtains. “Don’t let those kids find out, they’ll feel guilty.”
“Don’t let anyone hear how cheerful you sound at the thought of a teacher in the infirmary.” Malleus says, but his own amusement shows through. He moves slightly to the side of the bed. Lilia pretends not to notice the invitation.
“Should I not be? He ate everything the child I raised made with no complaints,” Lilia shrugs. With a smile, he adds, “And this also means I won’t have to do that dreaded gym class for now.”
A double edge sword that class was. Lilia wasn’t about to mourn a few cancelations until Vargas recovered.
While he thinks over what to do during that time instead, he doesn’t realize how closely Malleus was watching him. “...it means a lot to you that Silver did this, doesn’t it?”
Lilia blinks, not expecting the comment. Then his expression softened. “It does.”
He kicks off his shoes, and places them by the chaise at the foot of Malleus’ bed. He sits next to his lord on the bed, reaching out so he can run his fingers through his hair. There was something almost nostalgic in doing this. He pushes back his bangs, lightly tracing over the scales there. Malleus hums at the touch, rolling over to his stomach. A horn catches on his pillow, making him scowl. With a chuckle, Lilia fixes it before resuming playing with Malleus’ hair.
After a moment of silence, Lilia says softly, “The more that child does by himself, the lonelier it gets. I love his independence, but it’s difficult at times.”
“I don’t want him to grow up, Malleus,” He admits. “But I can’t stop it. And I wouldn’t even if I could. Yet I look at him, and I still see the small child that cried to me because he thought I’d be mad he burnt the food he wanted to surprise me with.”
Lilia doesn’t think he’ll ever forget coming home, and the near heart failure seeing smoke everywhere and Silver in tears. How those tears dried right up when Lilia ate everything after clearing away the smoke. It was a memory he holds close for many reasons.
Malleus peaks up at him, eyes sparkling. “Good for him that you enjoy such a thing.”
“There’s something special in eating food someone important to you made, good or bad.” He looked down at Malleus. “Did you not also feel pride when Silver’s meals turned out so well?”
He sees Malleus think it over. Finally, he says with a smile, “...I did.”
“I hope they do this again. I wouldn’t mind seeing how Sebek would do during an event like this. I think he’d do well.”
“It would be interesting.” Malleus agrees. He suddenly sits up with a grimace. A hand goes straight to his mouth. Lilia leans away.
“You’re old enough I’ll get angry if you get sick on me.” He warns. Malleus glares at him.
“I’m not a child with the flu.”
“No, you’re the man who refuses to take a potion to get rid of the nausea because you don’t like the taste.” It was too bad human medicine didn’t work on them. With a sigh, Lilia waves his hand. The walls light up in a quick flicker then turn back to normal. Malleus gives him an almost suspicious look.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ll help you sleep with my magic at least. I can’t exactly allow others to hear me, or else I’ll get a lecture for accidentally putting the whole dorm to sleep.”
“I suppose. Though I never feel rested with your magic,” Malleus pauses.“Will you sleep in here?”
The question takes Lilia off guard. Ever so briefly, Lilia does consider it. Something tells him that might not be the best idea right now. In the end, he shakes his head. “I’ll stay until you fall asleep.”
He can tell Malleus isn’t happy with the response, but he doesn’t protest. Once Lilia had him fast asleep, despite his words he does linger longer than planned. He watches over Malleus, thinking how things have changed. Even something as small as judging a silly cooking event made his lord so happy. Silver took to the challenge with great enthusiasm, even if his sleep caused a few things to burn. He really hopes Sebek will have his chance to try soon. Part of Lilia is even tempted to try for himself, if only to see the reactions he’ll get.
It wasn’t a whim that made Lilia think it was be good for them all to come here, but he still gets surprised by the simplest things that makes his family happy here. The changes it’s brought to them.
He wonders what else they’ll experience in this place, good and bad.